We all know Sonic, the Hedgehog: so many comics, TV cartoons and video games series have been released since 1991. The Blue Hedgehog is the best: he can run at supersonic speed (and exceed the speed of sound, even!) and usually curls up into a ball to fight his enemies.

The character is so famous he even got his place in the Walk of Game, the hall honoring the icons of the video game industry in San Francisco. But how well do we know him? Here are 5 fun facts about SEGA’s mascot:

1 – There are two answers to the question: Whyis Sonic blue?

2 – The Blue Hedgehog is a real music lover… Yup, he break dances on Michael Jackson and flirts with Madonna.

Find out how the game was originally used by Sega to fight piracy, and much more, in the article from ArcadeSushi below.

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‘According to the Sonic Comic, Sonic’s Speed and Color Are a Result of a Lab

According to the Sonic Comic series, Sonic had a weird lab accident involving a hamster wheel and some sneakers and this managed to give him blue fur and super speed. No, really! Sonic was supposedly a normal brown hedgehog until this accident took place.

Sonic’s Color is a Marketing Scheme

Why is Sonic blue? (Well, other than his hamster wheel sneaker accident of course.) The answer is simple: Blue is the color of the SEGA logo and SEGA wanted their mascot to be the same color. In addition, Blue apparently stands for peace and SEGA wanted Sonic’s color to reflect his good-guy with a bad-attitude nature.

Sega Most Likely Hired Michael Jackson to Compose Music for Sonic: The Hedgehog 3

Many people say that Sonic 3’s music sounds a lot like Michael Jackson’s music. This is because SEGA actually did ask the king of pop to record some tracks for the game, according to Jackson’s composer and musical director Brad Buxer, Supposedly, Michael Jackson was not credited in the final version because he was not happy with the sound that came out of the console. SEGA has not yet confirmed this fact, but several sources have supported these claims, and it’s hard to deny the similarities to Jackson’s music in the game’s soundtrack.

Sonic Canonically Loves to Breakdance

Sonic likes to breakdance in more places than just a canceled sound test. Breakdancing has been described as one of Sonic’s favorite past-times in many documents, mostly in the Sonic comics. However, Sonic has shown his love for breakdancing in games as well. In Super Smash Bros Brawl, one of his taunts is a breakdance. Several 3D Sonic games show Sonic breakdancing on level clear screens as well. Finally, in Sonic Battle, Sonic’s entire fighting style was based on breakdancing. Breakdancing is easily as canonical as his love for chilli dogs.

Sonic Was Originally Going to Have a Girlfriend Named Madonna

Sonic was originally going to be trying to save his girlfriend from Dr. Eggman instead of little forest critters. Named Madonna, she was a blonde girl in a red dress that could have competed with Jessica Rabbit for best animated turn-on. Fortunately, SEGA thought that this wasn’t appropriate for younger gamers and ditched the Madonna idea all together. Unfortunately, SEGA returned to this idea in Sonic the Hedgehog 360… and we all know how that turned out.

Sonic Cannot Swim Due to Mistaken Information About Real Hedgehogs

When Sega first made Sonic, they were under the impression that hedgehogs couldn’t swim so they made Sonic drown if he stayed under water for too long. This, unfortunately, is not true and if Sonic’s creators simply double checked their facts, we wouldn’t have had to put up with all of those frustrating drowning deaths.

Though Sonic Canonically Runs Faster Than Light, He Has Never Been Clocked at That Speed

Canonically, Sonic can run faster than light (light speed dash and all that). However, no game with a speed meter has ever clocked him as running at that speed. Heck, most games have him struggling to break the sound barrier. It’s all well and good though. If Sonic actually could approach the speed of light, his surroundings would begin to distort and chromatically shift in weird ways making the game almost unplayable. Also, it wouldn’t be that hard to get to the end of a stage at the speed of light, as Sonic would essentially be massless.

Sega Used Fear to Combat Piracy

Speaking of Dark, Sonic CD’s original piracy check would bring unwitting pirates to a strange screen if it failed. The screen had some weirdly distorted images of Sonic with what appears to be an old man face along with the message “Fun if infinite with Sega Enterprises” signed by Majin.

Majin can be translated as “devil” in English, and the screen had some pretty creepy music playing in the background along with an ominous laugh. Perhaps this was SEGA’s way of scaring pirates out of their pirating ways. You can still access the screen on a legit copy by entering specific sound test codes.‘

Source (+ read more): ’25 Things You May Not Know About Sonic the Hedgehog’, by Angelo Dargenio @ArcadeSushi